Bayer to Pay $1.3 Billion for Cancer Medicine in Pharma Push (1)

Bayer AG agreed to pay Kumquat Biosciences Inc. as much as $1.3 billion to gain a potential new cancer medicine and boost its pharma division’s growth prospects.

The German company will help fund the development of an early stage medicine from closely held Kumquat for several types of cancer in which a gene called KRAS has mutated, it said Tuesday.

Bayer has turnedto small and mid-sized transactions to restock its pipeline of future medicines as its bestselling drugs Xarelto, a blood thiner, and Eylea, an eye medicine, encounter fresh competition from cheaper copycats.

Bayer shares were little changed in ...